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Celebrating the OTW’s 19th Anniversary
The OTW is turning 19 today! In the past year, we published more than 100 news posts on a variety of topics, ranging from AO3 release notes to our Five Things series to news on Open Doors archive imports, to name a few! If you’re interested in following our work more closely, and keeping up to date with our latest news, there are many channels for you to do so. For starters, you can check out the news section either on this website, or the AO3 homepage for new posts and announcements. If you would like those news to be conveniently delivered to your email… Read more
OTW Signal, August 2026
Every month in OTW Signal, we take a look at stories that connect to the OTW’s mission and projects, including issues related to legal matters, technology, academia, fannish history and preservation issues of fandom, fan culture, and transformative works. In the News The recent swell of traditionally published novels with roots in fanfiction has left many questioning the legality of commercialized fanworks. In The romance of fair use and fiction, Rutgers Law student and OTW documentation volunteer Ally Duong explains how copyright law protects such novels—and why. Fanfiction culture has proved fertile ground for artistic expression. Copyright law nurtures that creativity by protecting an author’s… Read more
Five Things megidola Said
Every month or so the OTW will be doing a Q&A with one of its volunteers about their experiences in the organization. The posts express each volunteer’s personal views and do not necessarily reflect the views of the OTW or constitute OTW policy. Today’s post is with megidola, who volunteers as an Organizational Culture Roadmap Workgroup Head, Policy & Abuse Volunteer & Supurrvisor, and Tag Wrangling Volunteer & Supervisor. How does what you do as a volunteer fit into what the OTW does? I juggle a bunch of different things within the org, because I like variety! I started out as a tag wrangler, so… Read more
July 2026 Newsletter, Volume 213
I. AO3 SECURITY & PHISHING COMMENTS In late July, Policy & Abuse (PAC) coordinated with Accessibility, Design & Technology and Systems to increase AO3 account security measures against logins with insecure passwords in response to an active phishing comment scam targeting thousands of users. PAC also worked with Communications and Support to publish several social media posts to help users secure their accounts and keep them informed. We’d like to remind you that AO3 volunteers will never communicate with you about the status of your account through comments on your works. We will also never require payment from users to make an account or to… Read more
AO3 Celebrates 18 Million Fanworks
We’re excited to announce that we’ve crossed another milestone: AO3 now has more than 18 million fanworks! A big Thank You to everyone who contributed to that success, whether you’re a fanwork creator yourself, or cheering on your favorite creators with kudos and comments. Of those 18 million fanworks, a lot live in collections. A collection is a group of works and/or bookmarks compiled together under one theme. You can, for example, group together works for a specific trope or relationship. Prompt Meme and Gift Exchange challenges for specific events are also hosted within collections! Did you know we recently rolled out some changes adding… Read more